Creeping it real
PARANORMAL TOURS ARE CONJURING UP PLENTY OF INTEREST
Ghost tourism has become a boo-ming industry across Australia thanks to a plethora of TV shows and films dealing with the paranormal. And the pursuit of spirits has prompted thousands of curious hunters to book tours and share photos of their discoveries on social media.
Operators in some states say ghost tours have doubled in popularity in the past year and they are already booked out until 2022.
“We have continued to grow and each year it is getting bigger and bigger,” says Miha
Samanovic and Nicky Marsten of Queensland’s Most Haunted. “Halloween is always a busy time and we are booked out for the remainder of 2021.
“We offer a range of unique experiences from ghost tours as seen on TV, to the more intimate seance experience.”
While operators are expecting big crowds for
Halloween, many will enforce site restrictions and offer limited bookings due to the ongoing pandemic.
Alison Oborn of Adelaide’s Haunted Horizons says tours will go ahead at Adelaide Zoo and Glenside Hospital’s former Z Ward for the criminally insane.
“We are booked out, but we’re typically booked out every week,” the paranormal investigator says.
“My business has grown a lot in the last year, despite Covid. I think because word of mouth is growing and people want something interesting to do.”
Others have transported their tours to the digital world until restrictions ease.
“Our investigators will be on-site in different areas and people from home can watch and ask questions. They will sometimes pick up things we don’t see or hear,” Deb Robinson of Twisted History and Limelight Tours in Victoria says.
Australia is home to some of the most consistently active paranormal locations in the region. Here are just some of them.
STRANGE ENCOUNTERS
It is not uncommon for guests to have ghostly encounters.
Renata Daniel of Newcastle Ghost Tours says people often feel the ghosts touching them, hear footsteps or doors slamming.
“It can be profound, such as seeing an apparition or feeling a push, or it can be very subtle like the feeling they are being observed,” she says.
In almost 20 years hosting tours, Oborn can pinpoint her scariest encounter at the Z Ward.
“There was a dark human shadow flit across the hallway. It moved very fast,” she says.
“Suddenly the whole atmosphere changed … heavier and more threatening. This was a maledominated building all its life. A single female was locked in the building and it felt like it was coming in for a closer look.”
Robinson believes the Geelong Gaol is one of the most active places for ghosts in Victoria.
“We find that staff have different spirits that connect with them,” she says.
“For me it is Edward Fuller, who was a murderer that was incarcerated in 1869. He is like a cheeky teenager who likes to pull hair and the backs of skirts, especially of our guides.”
Other active places for ghostly encounters include Maitland Gaol and Monte Christo Homestead in NSW, the Maryborough Criterion Hotel and Royal Bulls Head Inn in Queensland, the Dunolly Railway
Hotel in Victoria and the Adelaide Gaol in South Australia.
TV, TERROR AND TOURISTS
Many guides say TV series such as The Haunting of Hill
House, Ghost Whisperer and Ghost Hunters and films including Ghostbusters and Paranormal Activity have created so much interest that their tours are often booked out months in advance.
“The popularity of ghost tours has risen slowly over the last 10 years and it tends to spike whenever a new series or movie is released,” Daniel says.
While it may appear “glamorous” on-screen, Oborn insists it’s anything but.
“People get a reality check when on the tours, as we keep it real, and the paranormal doesn’t happen every day,” she says.
“Ghost stories have always been popular and told around campfires for hundreds of years. With more tour operators managing to get places open so the public can go ghost hunting too, it was naturally going to be popular.”